Finding Home
by jbn42
Summary: They both marvel at the notion that they've managed to find a measure of peace in their souls, that they've found a home.


**Author's Note: **Fill for a LiveJournal Friday one word prompt "Content" for Wash and Taylor. I admit it – this got a wee bit longer than originally intended, but a little bit of fluffy smut is good for the soul, I say. : )

This is set in the context of my other stories,but the only one that's significant here is _118 Days Later _(Wash and Taylor have been in a relationship since not long after their arrival in the past), as this is pre-series, between the second and third pilgrimages, but before Lucas and Philbrick try to betray Taylor.

Disclaimer is the same as always – don't own them, just borrowing, no profit here.

It's late afternoon, and Alicia stands back, watching as the construction supervisor completes the final inspection of her small house. She honestly can't believe this will be hers and hers alone. Now that all of the civilians have homes and they've made a good start on housing for members of the next pilgrimage, the third one, she agreed to move out of the barracks.

Nathaniel has actually been after her for a while, urging her to move into a house, but she has been hesitant. The truth is that, as awkward and challenging as it can be for their personal relationship, she's comfortable in the barracks. She was on her own for nearly four years after her mother died. After being alone from age 14 until she enlisted, no matter how independent she is, she finds the camaraderie of the barracks oddly soothing.

She's been nervous about this for weeks. Nathaniel is pushing both her and Guz from the barracks. He already has a house, similar to the one she and Guz will both have, just a little larger. Though they both resisted at first, he finally made it an order, noting that his second and third in command needed some separation from the security and military forces. She pushed back harder than Guz did, only because Guz's daughter Tasha will be coming soon.

The house in front of her is simple and modest. It's less than nine hundred feet square, with a decent kitchen, two bedrooms and a bath. She argued with Nathaniel that a smaller one bedroom house was all she needed, that even a studio would do. He disagreed, emphasizing her position in the colony and insisting that she and Guz have the same design. So, she's setting up a study and workout room in her second bedroom.

Once the supervisor finishes, she has a couple of the soldiers lined up to move her personal things in. The basic cookware, dishes, glasses and flatware, standard issue for all colony kitchens, are already in the kitchen, and per the list of sign off items she saw on the supervisor's list, even her bed will be made up.

Most everything will be standard issue – the furniture, linens and towels too, but she doesn't care. As for her personal boxes, that's just clothes, weapons, books and a small collection of framed photographs, including some of her parents, both long dead. She has those and a couple of albums, mostly of the unit and family.

The books are actually prized possessions. They are old, most of them over one hundred years. Until she joined Nathaniel's unit as the medic, back when she was barely eighteen, her only personal possession was the album of pictures of her parents. The weapons and clothes have been collected slowly over the years, but the vast majority of the books were gifts from Ayani Taylor.

When the first leave, a few days off for Christmas, came up after she joined Nathaniel's unit, he asked her where she was spending it. Her response had been short. On base. He'd frowned and nodded, walking away. Alicia didn't give it a second thought, but then two days later, he showed up and told her to pack a backpack, that she was spending Christmas with his family. She politely refused, loathe to accept charity or pity for her solitary lot in life. He ended up making it an order.

Grumbling, she'd gone with him, and she'd been stunned by the warm welcome from Ayani. The older woman treated Alicia like a member of the family, and when she found out how much Alicia loved to read, she began to send her books, not electronic books like everyone else read, but real, bound books. The box of them came through with the second pilgrimage, along with, among other things, Lucas Taylor.

As she watches the crew work on her house, her mind wanders to Lucas. The happy, curious and fiercely intelligent child she knew is long gone, leaving only the intelligence behind. Her heart hurts for Nathaniel when she thinks about it. Though the front they project is one of, if not warmth, as least politeness, Alicia knows that the rift there is unlikely to ever be mended. Nathaniel is more than willing, but she fears that Lucas is too angry, too broken to forgive.

She shakes her head, driving out the dark thoughts. There isn't anything she can do to help that situation so, aside from listening to Nathaniel whether as a sounding board or just a shoulder, she stays clear of it.

"Lieutenant?" She looks up, realizing that the supervisor is waving her over. She heads over to the man, and he says, "You're set, ma'am. The regulation furniture and supplies are already in, kitchen set up and the commander also has asked that we add one more thing to your unit."

She lifts a questioning eyebrow. "I'm sorry?"

"He said something about a deck. I honestly didn't ask, ma'am. We'll be back tomorrow to add it, but as of now, you're clear to take possession. The lock pad is keyed to your palm print. The only other people with access are the commander and Guzman. The three of you, per the commander's orders, all have access to each other's houses."

She nods – clever Nathaniel. "A deck would be lovely, but if it's a supply issue…"

The man shakes his head. "No ma'am. We've got tons of wood, and that's all we need."

"Well, then thank you."

"No problem, ma'am. Enjoy your new home."

As the construction supervisor leaves, she blinks. Home. She doesn't remember the last time she had a place she thought of as _her _home. She did spend years going home with Nathaniel on leave, but that was to his home, not hers. In her heart, she hasn't really had a home since her mother died.

"Lieutenant?" Alicia turns to see three of the younger soldiers standing there with her things from the barracks.

"Private? How did you…"

"Ma'am, the supervisor let the commander know that he was about to give you the green light to move in, and the commander called us."

"Ah. OK, just put everything inside." She walks up to the door, opening it with the lock pad. The three privates follow her in, placing her boxes and duffel bags near the front door. "Thank you, gentlemen. Dismissed."

"Yes, ma'am!" They all actually say it in unison, salute and then leave. She can't help but laugh softly, remembering her own enthusiasm for mundane things when she was their age.

After closing the door, she turns around and surveys the living space. It's small and efficient, an open area comprising the kitchen, dining room and living area. There's a sofa and chair, a kitchen table with four chairs, and a well-appointed kitchen, more so than most of these basic units. She laughs again at that. She knows that Nathaniel will be here a lot, hoping to be fed. His own cooking is abysmal and generally inedible, and one can only handle so many MREs.

She wanders through the house, back to her bedroom, through the bathroom and spare room, and back out to the living area. It's upon her return that she sees something that makes her breath catch a little. There is one thing about her living room that isn't standard – there are two decent-sized built in bookcases on the far wall. The sight of them actually brings a light sheen of tears to her eyes, because she knows who is behind their being added to her house.

Pulling her hair free from its tight ponytail, removing her gun and thigh holster and toeing off her boots, she decides to get to work. She shoves the three boxes of her books over to the shelves, and she immediately begins unpacking them. The first book, interestingly, isn't a book at all, but her photo album. She puts that one on the bottom shelf, easy to find. Inside of fifteen minutes, she has all of the books loaded onto the shelves, leaving one eye-level shelf open. She goes over to the pile of her things and she grabs another box, this one smaller than the ones of her books.

After opening the box, she carefully begins to extract her framed pictures. There is one of her and Nathaniel in southeast Asia, both of them grinning and mostly covered in some sort of mud. She smiles at the picture, setting it aside to put in her bedroom. Four of the frames contain her favorite family photos, one of them her parents' wedding picture; two of them baby pictures of her, one alone and one with her parents; and the fourth is of her with her mom, maybe two years before her mother died.

As she arranges the pictures on the shelf, her fingertips linger on the latter photo, and she allows herself a rare moment of sadness, missing her mom. She takes that one from the shelf and puts it with the picture of her and Nathaniel, deciding that she wants it in her bedroom too.

She unwraps the last few frames. Two of them are of her and Nathaniel and their unit, one from southeast Asia, the other from Somalia. Those bring a bittersweet smile to her face, knowing that she and Nathaniel are some of the only people in those photos still alive.

The third and final frame is a picture from Christmas of 2137. It's of her and Ayani in the kitchen of the Taylors' home. They were in the middle of making cookies for a Christmas party they were throwing for the unit, and they were laughing, both with flour smudges on their faces and clothes. As she had with the picture of her mother, her fingertips brush the photo, coming to rest at the bottom of the frame.

She sighs as she looks at the picture, missing her friend. Even though it would definitely mean that she would not be in the intimate relationship she's in with Nathaniel now, she'd give anything for Ayani to still be alive. She wishes that not just because of the tragic and horrifying circumstances of her death, but also because it might mean that Nathaniel and Lucas would still be close.

"Penny for your thoughts?" Nathaniel's voice behind her makes her jump. She turns her head quickly, and he approaches from the front door. "Because there's no way I could come through your door without you noticing if you weren't distracted by _something_." When he gets to her, he peers over her shoulder.

Realizing that she still has her hand on the picture of her with Ayani, she draws it back quickly, but not quickly enough. A shadow passes over his face, and his eyes soften as he looks at the picture. Instead of withdrawing as she fears he might, he instead stands behind her, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her to him so that her back is flush with his front. He perches his chin on her shoulder. "That was a great Christmas, wasn't it?"

Her hands come up and wrap around his forearm, and she tilts her head towards his, gently touching her temple to his. "It was. We made such a mess that day."

He hugs her even tighter to him. "Cookies were good, though."

She huffs out a light laugh. "That they were. You and the boys went through them like locusts." She turns in his embrace, suddenly serious, her eyes meeting his. "I can put that picture away if you…"

He shakes his head. "No. I forgot you even had it, but it doesn't bother me, Alicia. I've only loved two women in my life, and that picture is of both of you happy and safe. I couldn't ask for a better memory."

She doesn't reply, just leans up and kisses him. He slips a hand into her hair, holding her there for a moment. When he lets her pull back, she smiles at him and says, "Thank you for my bookshelves, Nathaniel. I know you have to be the one behind them, since you're the only person who really knows about my books. It means the world to me to have a place for them."

He smiles back. "I knew it would, and since they were from Ayani, it was just something I wanted to do to make you smile and, at the same time, to honor her, if that makes any sense."

She nuzzles her face into his neck and winds her arms around his waist. "It does. And they're perfect."

They stand there like that for a while until he eventually says, "You know, I upgraded your kitchen, too."

She rolls her eyes and steps back from him, smirking. "Can we _not _pretend that was about me?" Then, she steps around him, stopping to pick up two of her duffels before heading to her new bedroom.

He feigns innocence as her follows her, grabbing the third duffel and bringing it to her room as well. "Whatever do you mean, Lieutenant?"

"Really Commander, you weren't hoping that I'd cook for you? That's excellent news. I'll just get some MREs, then, to heat up in the oven." She takes the third duffel from him, dropping it on her bed.

Even though he's probably certain that she's teasing him, his face falls briefly before he can school it to be nonchalant. She chuckles. "Gotcha. And your face there? Priceless."

She turns to her bags, starting to take things out of them. She realizes he is coming up behind her a moment too late, and he grabs her, dropping her on the bed. Before she can fight back, he has her pinned, his lower body effectively trapping her legs, his hands holding hers to the bed, arms up over her head. He gives her a feral grin. "Enjoy the teasing, do you, Lieutenant?"

She struggles half-heartedly, not really minding this. "That would be an affirmative, sir." She grins back at him as something occurs to her.

He cocks an eyebrow at her. "What are you smiling at? Seems to me that you're not in a good position here."

She grinds her hips upward into his, and his eyelids flutter briefly before he presses down harder, trapping her more completely. She laughs softly. "Well, there's _that_, but I was smiling at the thought that since we started…this part of our relationship…this is our first time alone together that involves an actual bed." Her grin returns as she alludes to the fact that they've been together just about everywhere, tents, his office, a cave they'd sheltered in during a flood, but never in an actual bedroom.

She can feel the impact of her words almost immediately, a certain part of him, now pressed firmly into her as he holds her down, reacting in a very obvious way. That elicits a leer from her, and he growls lightly, keeping her hands pinned to the bed as he leans down and kisses her hard, her gasp of surprise giving him the opportunity, one he takes advantage of with enthusiasm, to slip his tongue into her mouth.

After a moment, he releases her hands, his own hands sliding down, one threading into her hair, the other going to her waist and slipping under her top. Her arms wrap around him, her nails digging into his back through his t-shirt, and she manages to free her right leg, which she wraps tight around his hips. Just as his hand is creeping upwards towards her breasts, a voice makes them disentangle so quickly that Nathaniel nearly falls off the bed.

"Man, you two told me about your relationship, but I did _not _need to see that." Guzman is standing at the door of her new bedroom. Despite his bravado-tinged words, he wears a slight blush. "And sorry to barge in, but I knocked for a while and was getting worried since I knew you both were here." He pauses. "Lesson learned, but next time, hang a sock on the doorknob or something."

Recovering from her shock, Alicia rolls her eyes and stands up, smoothing down her hair and tucking her t-shirt back in. "Ha ha, Guz." She starts to ask why he's here when it hits her. "We were going to make dinner for the three of us, weren't we?"

He grins. "We were."

Somewhere behind her, she hears Nathaniel groan lightly. She turns and whacks him on the leg, laughing at the sight of him sprawled on the bed, evidence of what was interrupted fading quickly. "Hey, you're the one who made sure I had a fancy kitchen so I can cook for you. No complaints allowed now." She turns back to Guz. "Did you get the stuff from the market?"

He nods. "Yep. That, and a bottle of contraband wine I got sent with my personal stuff."

"Sweet." She looks at Nathaniel again. "I'm going to go to the kitchen with Guz, dear," she hears a snort from the bed at the sarcastically intoned endearment, "Why don't you join us when you've composed yourself?" Without waiting for him to respond, she leads a laughing Guzman back to the kitchen area.

Two hours later, the bottle of wine is empty, and they all sit around the table, laughing and enjoying the remnants of a fruit tart that Alicia threw together. It's different from what they're used to, mostly fruit native to this timeline, but it's actually pretty tasty. For her, though, the most interesting part of the meal has been the open affection Nathaniel has been showing her throughout, things like sitting close to her, his arm on the back of her chair, hand rubbing her neck.

They only just told Guz about them right before the second pilgrimage. They'd been intimate for a while at that point, and they didn't want him finding out by accident. They know he's loyal, won't tell anyone, and he'd actually taken it with little more than a shrug and a comment about how completely not surprised he was.

But this is the first time they've truly let their guard down around anyone, and while it's a little strange to Alicia – she's never been all that comfortable with PDAs with any of her past lovers – it's actually a lot less awkward than she feared it might be. In truth, as they drink the last of their wine, she actually finds it liberating to lean into him and entwine their fingers on the table.

When the wine is gone, Guz offers to help them clean up. They decline, and while Nathaniel takes the dishes to the sink, she walks Guz to the door. He bids her goodnight, but as he steps outside, he looks around, obviously checking to see if anyone is nearby. "Wash, I just wanted to say that I'm really glad for the two of you. It's nice to see you together in a setting like this. You seem really happy."

She smiles a little, a blush coming to her cheeks. Mentally, she blames the wine. "Thanks, Guz. We are, we're happy and even content, something I'm not sure either of us has ever been before."

He nods. "And by the way, you two are the only ones who've already moved into houses in this section. The rest won't be finished until later this week, so I'd say save for an occasional patrol, which you know will be at least fifteen or twenty minutes apart, there won't be anyone around in the morning."

She looks confused for a moment, but then she realizes what he's trying to tell her. Her blush deepens, making him laugh quietly. He reaches out and squeezes her shoulder. "Good night, Wash."

"Night, Guz. See you tomorrow." She closes the door behind him, sweeping her palm over the interior lock pad to lock the door.

She comes up behind Nathaniel as he puts a dish in the drying rack, wrapping her arms around his waist and pressing her body to his. He keeps working but asks, "Guz gone?"

"Mmm-hmm." She drops a kiss on the back of his neck. "He also made a point of reminding me that you and I are the only ones who have already moved in over here. The rest of this section won't be finished for a few more days."

"Are you trying to tell me something, Lieutenant?" His voice is teasing as he finishes drying the last plate. He stacks it with the others and turns around in her arms, pressing a quick kiss to her lips.

"Maybe. How do you feel about a sleepover?" She bumps his nose with hers. "It'll be much harder to pull off once the others move in over here, especially after the third pilgrimage when this section will be completely full."

"Hmm." He seems to consider it, and then he just leans down and picks her up.

"Nathaniel!" She protests, but she's laughing as she does. "Stop!" He stops walking and lifts an eyebrow at her. She grins. "At least let me turn the lights off."

He returns her grin and starts walking again, pausing at each set of light switches before carrying her to her bedroom. Once inside, he kicks the door shut behind them. He uses one hand to pull back the coverlet on the bed, and he puts her down. He grabs for her duffels, clearly intending to throw them on the floor, when she says, "Wait!"

He shoots her a questioning look, and she grins at him. "You can toss the green ones, but be careful with the black one."

Until he lifts the bag, he looks puzzled, and then he grins back at her. "Arsenal?"

"Pretty much."

He laughs, tossing the bags of her clothes and then carefully sitting her weapons bag next to them. He walks back to the door and switches off the overhead light, leaving the room dark except for a faint glow through the shade-covered window from a light outside. He returns to the bed, kneeling between her legs as she sits on the edge of the bed.

He removes her socks one foot at a time, and then his hands go for her belt, making quick work of it before unbuttoning and unzipping her fatigues and sliding them slowly down her legs. Sitting in her panties and t-shirt, she reaches for him, drawing him to her for a searing, deep kiss. Her hands move down, returning the favor and unbuckling his belt. When it's loose, she pulls his own t-shirt free, breaking their kiss to pull it up and over his head.

She hums in approval, returning to their kiss. As they explore each other's mouths with their tongues, his hands knead her bare hips and her fingertips lightly map the scars on his arms and torso, ghosting along the lines and marks of their battles. He pushes her, and she reclines on the bed. He stands up long enough to get rid of his boots, socks and fatigues, and, now clad only in his boxers, he gets on the bed next to her.

He slides his hand under her t-shirt, pushing it up and over her head. He tosses it to the side, admiring her body in the soft light from outside, leaning forward to trace her own scars with his tongue. He unclasps her bra and slides it down her arms, not stopping in his exploration of her upper body.

She arches and threads her hands into his hair as his tongue teases across a nipple, but he doesn't stop until his mouth gets to one of three scars of bullet wounds that mark her body, this one dangerously close to her heart. He pauses then, his breath hitching. She tightens her hands in his hair and pulls his face up to hers, kissing him softly. "Hey."

"It still takes my breath away sometimes, knowing that I nearly lost both of you that day."

She doesn't have a response to that, knows there's nothing she can say to take the sting out of the memory. Instead, she just kisses him again, deepening it until their tongues are once again twining together. A moment later, he pulls away from her, moving down to slide her panties down her legs. He comes back up to kiss her again, hovering over her, and she takes the opportunity to wrap a leg around him and reverse their positions.

She grins down at him and moves down his body and he had hers, slipping her hands under the waistband of his boxers and dragging them down his legs. The moment her face is once again above his, he uses his superior strength to flip them again. He silences her protest with his mouth, and then he eliminates her desire to protest by moving one hand down to slip his fingers through her already wet folds, his index finger quickly finding her clit easily, gliding back and forth across it.

She arches up off of the bed at the contact. "Nathaniel!" Her voice is already breathy when she calls his name. He chuckles softly, but he almost chokes when her hand encircles his shaft. She murmurs, "What's so funny, Commander?"

He smirks. "Nothing, Lieutenant. Nothing at all."

Running her hand up and down him, she says, "That's what I thought."

He smiles at that, his hand still between her legs, and he leans down and kisses her neck, his mouth sucking and biting lightly at her skin, careful not to mark her anywhere visible. As his finger continues to slide across her clit, her breathing becomes shallow, and she releases him to fist her hands in the sheets on the bed. She suddenly realizes that she's had enough foreplay, and she breathes out, "Please, Nathaniel."

He doesn't require any more prompting than that. He positions himself between her legs, and, with one thrust, buries himself deep inside her body. "God, Alicia."

She doesn't say anything, just wraps her legs around his waist as he sets a slow, gentle pace. They both are luxuriating in the knowledge that they have privacy, that they don't have to rush through this for fear of being caught. As he moves within her, she's able to tilt her hips so that each thrust into her makes him brush against her clit, and she knows that it won't take long for her. By the early telltale tremors through his body, she can tell that he's in the same place.

His strokes against her, while still gentle, increase in speed as they become more erratic. He's still hitting her clit with every thrust, and she's now crying out softly each time. Her hands grip his biceps which are flexed and taut with the effort of supporting his upper body above hers.

He leans down, mating his mouth with hers. Her legs tighten around him as she begins to lift her hips to meet each thrust. He groans at her added movement, and she can feel the peak building deep in the pit of her stomach, nerve endings singing with her approaching climax.

He begins to pound into her, now hard and fast, and the new contact spurs her on. She knows he's close, and as he continues to move above her, she tightens around him and convulses hard, her release finding her. At the same moment, he stiffens and cries out, "Alicia!" Even as he spills himself inside her, he keeps moving, drawing out her own peak, leaving her quivering with the exertion.

He tries to stay pushed up on his forearms, but he collapses against her, his weight welcome against her, pressing her down into her soft new mattress. "Sorry."

"For what?"

"Crushing you."

She laughs softly. "I can take it, Nathaniel. I even like it."

He hums and nods, but he still rolls off of her and onto his back. She sits up long enough to grab the coverlet, drawing it up over both of them before she nestles into his side, her head on his shoulder. "So, I've got to say it, doing this in a bed is a lot nicer than the wall of your office."

He snorts. "Agreed."

They're quiet for a moment, just listening to each other breathe, when she says, "Nathaniel?"

"Hmm?"

She can tell he's already falling asleep, but she has something she wants to ask him. "Why are you making them add a deck for me?"

He leans back and looks down at her face, smoothing her hair back out of her eyes. "It's silly."

She gives him a half-smile and wraps an arm possessively around his waist. "Try me."

"Years ago, you told me about a lake house you used to go to with your parents before they died, before the pollution got too bad. You said you used to sit on the deck with your mom. I don't know why I remembered it, but I did, right in the middle of my meeting with the building supervisor. He said it would be easy, so I thought it might be nice for you, something to remind you of your family."

His explanation brings uncharacteristic tears to her eyes, and her voice goes to barely a whisper. "Thank you, Nathaniel."

"You're welcome, Alicia."

She sighs, curling tighter against him, her leg looping over his. "Good night, Nathaniel."

His arm holds her tight to his body. "Welcome home, Alicia. I love you."

Drifting off to sleep, she mumbles, "I love you too," back to him, but he's already out. She smiles softly against his shoulder. "Welcome home."


End file.
